Books

Three Washington, DC detectives investigate the suicide of a prominent US Congressman, only to find the Congressman's death is linked to a twenty five year-old murder. The case frustrates the detectives with its ever changing forensic results, but when a conspiracy is uncovered that will ruin the lives of more than one public official, it forces one detective home, to face her past.

No Evidence of a Crime, follows the investigation of a murdered congressional aide whose death can easily be explained by a stack of reports from the crime lab but the case takes a darker turn as the detectives realize the results reported by the crime lab cannot possibly be true.

Written by S. Connell Vondrak, who has worked as a forensic scientist for over twenty years, this book follows the evidence as no other book can. Whether you are a fun loving mystery buff or a diehard forensic fan, you will love following the fast-paced, ever changing path as two Washington, D.C. detectives figure out what the evidence truly means.

No Evidence of a CrimeChapter 1

The cherry trees were in bloom, but Kathleen had not noticed them until a plane overhead drew her attention upward. As she looked toward the sky, she saw a cloud of pink petals hovering just over her head. The sky was a perfect crystal blue, flickering through the ceiling of petals above. She breathed deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. She could smell the cool, damp air with a hint of freshly mowed grass overwhelmed by the sweetness of the cherry blossoms. With another breath, she thought the smell alone would lift her ever so slightly off the ground and suspend her, for a moment, away from everything.

Kathleen opened her eyes and looked at the scene before her. A crimson halo of blood framed the face of a young black woman lying on the grass. Occasionally, a petal or two would float down and land in the pool of blood or on the woman’s face, as if nature were trying to beautify the gruesome sight.

Kathleen looked over at the thin yellow plastic ribbon which separated her from the growing number of people who had come to watch. Police tape with the words CRIME SCENE - DO NOT CROSS tacked to waist high stakes was the only barrier separating the horrors of the crime from the rest of the world. But, that thin plastic tape seemed to be enough. The onlookers did not want to step into Kathleen’s world. They did not want to be standing over a dead woman’s body, looking intently at the corpse. They did not want to kneel close enough to smell the blood as they looked for the signs of the body having been moved. They watched from safety, protected by the thin yellow piece of police tape.